At least 20 civilians were murdered and 17 wounded in a suspected militia attack. in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province.

Local authorities accused the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO)- an ethnic-religious militia – for the massacre, one of dozens of armed groups spread across the conflict-wracked country.

CODECO claims to defend the interests of its community, the Lendu, mainly farmers. Indeed, the majority of the victims were members of the Hema community , mainly farmers and traders.

The attack takes took in Djugu territory, where the villages and lands of the two communities are intertwined. Djugu’s territory covers about 8,000 km 2 .

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Neal Path

Neal Path is a reporter covering international affairs and defense news. He leads a team of specialist technical journalists and defense forecasting analysts, working across a range of online products. Neal Path is a defense technology specialist and has written widely on most areas of defense technology, but his particular areas of interest include missile defense, precision weapons, naval warfare, sensor capabilities and military operations.